Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a distributor valve for a brake control system of a railway vehicle. In particular, the present invention relates to a distributor valve having an access interface for accessing the operation pressures of the distributor valve to perform automated testing diagnostics on the distributor valve.
Description of Related Art
Railway vehicles in Russia utilize brake control systems incorporating a distributor valve having a pipe bracket (or chamber), a main portion, and a main line portion. The brake control system utilizes five different operating pressures for proper operation of the entire distributor valve unit. These five operating pressures are working chamber, valve chamber, brake pipe, reservoir, and brake cylinder. Currently, there are mainly three models of distributor valves in use in brake control systems of all Russian freight railway vehicles: the 483A-03, the 483A-05, and the KAB60-01.
Current Russian standards for testing the efficacy of the brake control system and the distributor valve only require that a manual single car test be performed on a freight car when a new OEM distributor valve is mounted to a freight car or when the complete distributor valve unit is replaced with a complete re-conditioned valve unit. The testing is performed using a manually controlled testing device that only accesses the brake pipe pressure and manually monitors both the brake pipe and brake cylinder pressures with analog gauges to check for proper operation of the distributor valve. The distributor valve is not provided with any means or mechanism for accessing all five of the operational pressures of the distributor valve while the distributor valve is in use. Testing cannot be performed automatically and cannot be performed during the service life of the distributor valve. The inability to provide a single car test of the distributor valve during its service life significantly increases the risk of improper distributor valve functionality going unnoticed while the distributor valve is in use.
In the United States, solutions exist for accessing the operational pressures of the control valve for a brake control system of a railway freight vehicle. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,218 to Hart et al. describes a control valve, such as the AB, ABDW, DB-60, or ABDX models, having an integrally formed access plate on the pipe bracket portion for accessing the operational pressures of the control valve: brake pipe, brake cylinder, emergency reservoir, auxiliary reservoir, and optionally, the quick action chamber. A testing device for automatically and regularly testing the operational pressures of the control valve is also described. U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,218 is hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth herein in its entirety.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,099 to Hart et al. describes a pressure access plate that can be mounted between the pipe bracket portion and the emergency portion or the service portion of the control valve for a brake control system of a railway freight vehicle. The access plate includes a face having ports in communication with integrally formed segregated chambers that communicate the passages of the pipe bracket portion with corresponding passages of the emergency portion or the service portion. The access plate allows for access to the operation pressures of the control valve: brake pipe, brake cylinder, emergency reservoir, auxiliary reservoir, and optionally, the quick action chamber. The access plate allows for existing control valves, such as the ABD, ABDW, DB-60, and the ABDX models, to be retrofitted to provide the capability of regular and automatic testing. A testing device for automatically and regularly testing the operation pressures of the above-mentioned control valves is also described. U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,099 is hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth herein in its entirety.